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Union-Find

The Ackermann Function

Algorithms: Design
and Analysis, Part II
 Tarjan’s Bound
Theorem: [Tarjan 75] With Union by Rank and path compression,
m UNION+FIND operations take O(mα(n)) time, where α(n) is
the inverse Ackerman function (will define in this video)

Proof in next video.

Tim Roughgarden
 The Ackermann Function
Aside: Many different definitions, all more or less equivalent.
Will define Ak (r ) for all integers k and r ≥ 1. (recursively)
Base case: A0 (r ) = r + 1 for all r ≥ 1.
In general: For k, r ≥ 1:
Ak (r ) = Apply Ak−1 r times to r
= (Ak−1 ◦ Ak−1 ◦ . . . ◦ Ak−1 )(r )

r -fold composition

Tim Roughgarden
 Quiz: A1
Quiz: A1 (r ) corresponds to what function of r ?
A) Successor (r 7→ r + 1)
B) Doubling (r 7→ 2r )
C) Exponentation (r 7→ 2r )
... r times ...2
D) Tower function (r 7→ 22 )

A1 (r ) = (A0 ◦ A0 ◦ . . . ◦ A0 )(r ) = 2r
(r -fold composition, add 1 each time)

Tim Roughgarden
 Quiz: A2
Quiz: What function does A2 (r ) correspond to?
A) r 7→ 4r
B) r 7→ 2r
B) r 7→ r 2r
... r times ...2
D) r 7→ 22

A2 (r ) = (A1 ◦ A1 ◦ . . . ◦ A1 )(r ) = r 2r
(r -fold composition, doubles each time)

Tim Roughgarden
 Quiz: A3
Quiz: What is A3 (2)? Recall A2 (r ) = r 2r
A) 8
B) 1024
B) 2048
D) Bigger than 2048

A3 (2) = A2 (A2 (2)) = A2 (8) = 828 = 211 = 2048

In general: A3 (r ) = (A2 ◦ A2 ◦ . . . (r times) . . . ◦ A2 )(r ) ≥ a tower

... r times ...2
of r 2’s = 22

Tim Roughgarden
 A4
... height 2048 ...2
A4 (2) = A3 (A3 (2)) = A3 (2048) ≥ 22

In general: A4 (r ) = (A3 ◦ . . . r times . . . ◦ A3 )(r ) ≈ iterated tower

function (aka “wowzer” function)

Tim Roughgarden
 The Inverse Ackermann Function
Definition: For every n ≥ 4, α(n) = minimum value of k such that
Ak (2) ≥ n.
α(n) = 1, n = 4 (A1 (2) = 4)
α(n) = 2, n = 5, . . . , 8 (A2 (2) = 8)
α(n) = 3, n = 9, 10, . . . , 2048
α(n) = 4, n up to roughly a tower
of 2’s of height 2048
α(n) = 5 for n up to ???
log∗ n = 1, n = 2
log∗ n = 2, n = 3, 4
log∗ n = 3, n = 5, . . . , 16
log∗ n = 4, n = 17, 65536
log∗ n = 5, n = 65537, 265536
log∗ n = 2048 for such n
Tim Roughgarden